EFF Fights to Keep Jailbreaking Legal

Leon Hitchens

3 years ago

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is still working their magic to keep jailbreaking legal. The nonprofit organization has filed a petition with the U.S. Librarian of Congress and the Copyright Office arguing that jailbreaking shouldn’t be seen as a violation of the U.S.’s Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Jailbreaking on iOS or Rooting on Android is a common task of bypassing the devices operating system, which violates End User License Agreements. The EFF mentions that they have already won jailbreaking exemptions in 2010 and 2012, but they explain that they must argue their case every three years due to the way the DMCA process works.

Among the benefits offered in jailbreaking, Eff outlines on their blog, is the ability to support a device’s security after it has stopped receiving updates from the manufacturer. Another is install apps that make the phone easier to use and is great way to customize the look and feel of the operating system.

Hopefully the EFF would be able to extend the earlier wins and make jailbreaking legal for not only smartphones but also tablets. Tell us what you think about the EFF’s battle to make sure that jailbreaking, also known as Rooting, stays legal for everyone in the comments below!